Cantor endorses McCarthy

Cantor’s stunning 11-point primary loss to an unknown college professor on Tuesday night has tossed into motion a full-bore Republican leadership race in the middle of an election year. The House is now in the throes of one of the most competitive contests in recent memory, one that will completely reorder the GOP hierarchy. Pent-up ambition is being unleashed. The intrigue is in full swing. Secret meetings are starting. Whip ballots are being passed out. Favors are being promised. And ambitious lawmakers, who long eyed top slots, are making their moves.

And Cantor? On July 31, the man who was assumed to be the next speaker of the House will be on his way back into the rank and file for the first time in 12 years. He’ll be gone from Congress altogether in January. In a nationally televised news conference, he described the loss as a “personal setback.”

McCarthy, who Cantor helped groom, has already started to solidify his support for the majority leader job. He met with a close group of allies in the Capitol Wednesday afternoon. He was extremely confident about his prospects, and passed out whip sheets to help firm up votes. His allies were charged with three Republicans to persuade to support McCarthy.

Establishment support for the Californian is building. Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton of Michigan is on board. Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) was seen leaving McCarthy’s Capitol suite.

Some of McCarthy’s friends — like Florida Rep. Tom Rooney — were already meeting with their colleagues to see who they are leaning toward. If McCarthy wins, it would be another meteoric rise. He was just elected to the House in 2006.

But McCarthy is not the only one eyeing the No. 2 position. Sessions, whom Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) appointed as Rules Committee chairman, also will run. He’s positioning himself as the conservative, and tried late Wednesday to rally the Texas delegation around him. On Tuesday, around midnight — right after Cantor went down — Sessions texted many lawmakers, asking for private chats. It rubbed many the wrong way. Next week, one source said, Sessions will release a video. Officially, Boehner is not endorsing in the race.

The wild card in the majority leader race is Rep. Jeb Hensarling, another Texas Republican who chairs the Financial Services Committee. While McCarthy’s large whip operation is in full swing, Hensarling has only chatted with small pockets of lawmakers. Several Texas Republicans — the key part of Hensarling’s constituency — said they hadn’t heard from the Financial Services chairman. Others have urged him to pass up the race, according to sources. His supporters fret that time is passing him by.

The whip race is equally — if not more — competitive. Scalise, the conservative chairman of the Republican Study Committee, and Roskam, McCarthy’s chief deputy whip, already are vying for support. They both circled the House Wednesday, buttonholing members as they sat on the leather seats in the chamber, trying to win their support. Late Wednesday, Roskam chatted with Texas Rep. Kevin Brady and Utah Rep. Rob Bishop, leaning in toward them on the House floor with his head tilted. He spent much of Wednesday huddling with deputies to discuss the race.